He moves the seat until his leg is pressed up against mine. His warm, runny honey scent is more memorable than the symphony of smells wafting from the flowers. It makes my toes curl and makes me want to climb on his lap and lose myself in him.
As if tuned into my thoughts, he turns, making it impossible for me not to look at him. The amber in his eyes has darkened, reflecting the same undeniable pull I’m struggling to contain.
“The things I want to do to you,” he growls before clearing his throat. “But first, I have a near primal need to know you are okay. You should have seen a doctor before we left the hospital. Or at least have let me arrange one for you to see privately. I’ll be forever disappointed in myself for not pushing harder, for not finding a way to make that happen.”
I shake my head, cutting him off. “I wouldn’t have seen anyone. Not here, and not last night.”
His gaze narrows and his scent sours in his frustration before he blinks it away. “Sorry. It still eats me up. But now you’ve left, I am hoping you will let me take you to someone who can make sure you’re okay.”
Last night when I got back to my room seems like a long time ago now. The hours dragged full of swooping highs as I remembered waking up in Rye’s arms, before I plummeted down so hard and fast I was on the tiled floor, rocking, trying to think of anything but what I saw in Brody’s eyes.
Looking away from Ryder’s gaze is necessary, it breaks the spell and gives me the chance to answer him. “I promise there’s nothing broken. I don’t want to see a doctor and I don’t want me not going to a doctor to turn into a thing between us.”
“Jesus, Sin, it never could. I respect your decisions, sometimes they won’t match mine, but I won’t hold it against you. All I need to know is thatyouare okay. It soothes a lot of the rage I had going on.”
“Rage?” I twist back to face him.
I watch as he takes a series of long slow breaths; it half looks like he is wrestling with himself. In that moment, where Ryder is in his own headspace, I look inward to make sure I’m comfortable with what I’m seeing, and I am.
“I have to tell you something, Rye,” I confess. And it’s a lot easier speaking while I don’t have to look at him. “There’s someone else in my life. He makes me feel the same way you do.”
“How do I make you feel?”
His question is delivered gently. There’s no surge of his designation making it a question I’m forced to answer. Instead, it comes across like he wants to know so he understands me better.
I don’t cower under his intense scrutiny and continue telling him the truth. “Like this thing between us is the beginning of something I’ve been waiting for, for a long time.”
He opens his eyes, and the anger from before has shifted to something else. In the kaleidoscope of his flickering, I’m struck by another confirmation of how wrong things have always been with Brody. He could never be as open and honest with me as Ryder is.
“It is, Sin. It really is,” he grabs my hand. “In time, everything is going to work out exactly how it should.”
“I hope so,” I answer. And I really do.
“Come on, let’s get you on your way home.”
“You’re not coming?”
He squeezes my hand. “I’d really like to, but tomorrow night I have a show to do.”
I shake my head in disbelief, because while I know he is Koded at the same time I’ve only ever seen him as Rye. A person with a beautiful giving nature and an addictive scent. “Is it silly if I say I kind of forgot what you do?”
Ryder throws his head back and laughs. “You are going to be so good for my ego. My number one fan only wants me for me.”
“Your number one fan, huh?” I tease.
He arches his eyebrows in challenge at my question, making him look insanely beautiful. A knowing smirk dances across his lips—sinful and tempting. It takes me a second to realise what’s making him smile—I’m leaning in, chasing a taste of his lips on mine.
“Is it wrong that I want to kiss you?” he asks, his eyes tracking over my face, watching carefully.
Like when I was back with Hendrix in his office, I don’t give either of us the luxury of second guessing. I remove the distance between us.
Except Ryder stops me.
His hands curl around my face, and he drops his forehead to mine before inhaling our reunion. All I can see is him, all I breathe is his sweet honey scent, and I’m glad he slowed us down because I want to remember every small part of it forever.
He rubs his nose on mine then trails it down my cheek and back. Repeating it on the other side, breathing his scent all over me, inhaling mine as it perfumes on my skin.
I’m giddy. Severely scent struck. My lips tingle like they’re covered in popping candy, anticipation crackling through every nerve as I wait for him to finally kiss me. I whimper when he rubs our noses together—a flicker of concern flashes in his eyes before understanding dawns. Then, as his lips press softly against the corner of mine, the air rushes from my lungs in a breathless whoosh.
